


An Arranging Marriage

by OnlyZouzou



Series: I love You [2]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Arranged Marriage, F/M, Fluff, Grounder Bellamy Blake, Love Confessions, Season/Series 03, Sort Of, there's no ALIE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:28:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26683672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnlyZouzou/pseuds/OnlyZouzou
Summary: Everything in this marriage is arranged, from Clarke's outfit to Bellamy's war paint and every word of their vows... So yeah, "I love you, Clarke" was definitely not part of the plan...
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Series: I love You [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1902457
Comments: 12
Kudos: 111





	An Arranging Marriage

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thank you Lili for being your awesome self!

"I love you, Clarke."

The young blonde woman widened her eyes in astonishment and held her breath as she looked into Bellamy's eyes. The Trikru Leader stood in front of her. The firm but vulnerable look on his face was not a familiar expression for her. Although Clarke had seen many sides of Bellamy since the moment they met. 

He had first been her enemy when the dropship containing a hundred delinquents from the Ark crashed on Earth in the territory of the fierce Trikru warriors. When his second in command and sister, Octavia, had speared Jasper's chest the moment their small group had come too close to one of their villages. When he had destroyed the radio brought by Raven when the young woman arrived on Earth. When the rockets sent to warn their families on the space station that they were still alive had taken the lives of dozens of people by burning one of the Gounder's settlements to the ground. When their first encounter had turned into a nightmare on the bridge that Raven had blown up a few days later. When the warriors had attacked their camp with a biochemical weapon that had caused the death of twelve of the delinquents... And that had only been the first week of the Delinquents’ time on Earth.

Clarke remembered their first chaotic and deadly encounters all too well. Those memories had kept her awake at night for weeks and weeks, marking her mind in the same way that Bellamy's body still bore the scars of the battle between their two peoples.

Then, inevitably, he had become her ally. Both being forced to work with the people they had once fought. Clarke had, after all, freed him from Mount Weather where he had been destined to die. The two of them now stood united in the face of adversity as they realized that what once made them enemies now allowed them to perfectly complement each other, making them almost invincible, together. 

When the alliance between Skaikru, the Grounders, and their Commander had crumbled to ashes, Bellamy had stood by Clarke and her people, risking his own safety, while the rest of the clans had turned their backs on them. Then, he had put his hand on hers, pushing with her the lever that had stolen from her the rest of her innocence, or at what little she had left of it. He had not judged her when she fled from those she had saved by running into the forest, alone and broken.

Then the friend became a confidant. Bellamy was the only one she was willing to see as she grieved and tried to understand who she had become. His support had been unwavering, through hardships of course, but also through quieter times. They had gotten to know each other, to understand each other, to respect each other, and to rely on one another. The trust and friendship that had bonded them together had been so natural and immediate that they hadn't even realized how close they had become. Closer even than she was to the people who were her responsibility and who had come with her to Earth. 

So when Clarke's life found itself in danger again, when people started whispering "Wanheda" instead of her name everywhere she went, when her portrait was displayed on the walls of every grounder home with a bounty on it, Bellamy explained his plan to her. The idea was to make their two peoples into one clan and thus place Clarke under the protection of Trikru. This way, not a single living creature would try to touch one of her hair, or someone she cared about because hurting Wanheda or Skaikru would be akin to challenging Trikru. And since Trikru was part of the alliance that Lexa herself had built, it would mean going to war with their Heda herself and thus the rest of the other unified clans.

No one, not even the harsh, and cruel Azgeda Clan would risk it.

If Clarke had found the idea smart, she far from expected that the way to make this plan a reality would be through a sacred union, much less that this sacred union would be theirs, Bellamy’s and hers. On second thought, she should have known better. However, when the Commander almost reluctantly decided that the right way to unite their two peoples was through marriage, and her friend and ally immediately volunteered to become her husband, reality finally caught up with her. 

And if Clarke had ever pondered about confessing her growing feelings for the young man, any hope that he would share her affection had disappeared the very moment he had proposed to become her husband and listed all the practical arguments and material advantages of their union, without ever once mentioning the strong bond that first united their two souls before uniting their two peoples. 

Since then, she hadn't stopped trying to repress her feelings. But, she had been wrong to try, judging by the words Bellamy had just uttered.

Though this couldn't be true. Bellamy cared about her, yes, but not like that, not the way she loved him, not the way she wanted him, not the way she desperately needed to keep him close. The only reasons he had agreed to this marriage were practical, not because he wanted to become one with her... All of this— all of this had to be part of a bigger scheme... Perhaps threats had appeared of which she was unaware of, perhaps he was simply acting out a plan to protect her... Yes, that must have been it.

Around her, voices whispered, both in English and in Trigedasleng. The leader couldn't distinguish what they were saying, but they seemed surprised for the majority, happy for others, angry for some. 

Lincoln, at first distant, serious, and terrifying in his Grounder warrior outfit behind Bellamy, had now given up hiding his wide smile, and Clarke was almost certain that Raven, standing two steps behind her, was a perfect reflection of the Trikru leader's best man. 

This was exactly what she and Bellamy had intended to avoid, the exact reason why they had agreed to play this charade in the first place, the reason why each of the words of their "wedding" vows had been carefully considered, chosen, and then practiced. 

And no matter how many times Clarke was replaying her own and the young man's speech in her mind at full speed, she definitely had no recollection that the words Bellamy had just spoken were part of it. In fact, she remembered very clearly that both she and he had even painstakingly avoided them. No, their vows were about respect, mutual trust, mixing of cultures, and about the benefits that the union of their two peoples could bring to each other. But not love. Never love. And yet...

"I'm in love with you..." he then declared in a breath.

The long exhale that followed these words seemed to take a weight off his broad shoulders that Clarke hadn't noticed until then. Yet, there was no denying that Bellamy suddenly looked lighter, taller, airier. A smile floated on his lips and his brown eyes, which had previously been serious and solemn, sad even, now were shining with an emotion that the young woman couldn't put her finger on. And as if his attitude didn't show enough relief, he exclaimed:

"Wow, it feels so good to finally be able to say it—"

"Bellamy..." Clarke interrupted him, whispering to keep this conversation as private as possible despite the current circumstances, "What are you doing?"

"I don't want to marry you," he suddenly said, and Clarke's almost got whiplash from the way he wasn’t making any sense.

Somewhere behind them, voices arose, furious. Clarke recognized the now all-too-familiar and equally annoying tones of Nia and Ontari from Azgeda, as well as Roan's, who was seemingly trying to calm them down. Then, Lexa's clear voice echoed nearby, imposing silence on all and demanding answers, questioning and almost... hurt? —if Clarke knew her as well as she thought to. However, neither Clarke nor Bellamy were paying attention to what they were all saying, engrossed in each other.

"I love you, Clarke... and therefore, I love everything that makes you, You. Your flaws, as well as your qualities. Your burning spirit. And also your people and their customs. I don't want Skaikru to become Trikru, just as I don't want you to become like me. I want Skaikru and Trikru to become one. A new civilization. I don't want you to comply with our traditions, I want to embrace yours as you welcome ours. I want Kane to perform the ceremony with Gaia. I want to ask your mother for your hand in marriage. I want Wells to walk you down the aisle. And even though I would never array such a ridiculous outfit," he added with a smile, "I want you to be able to wear the white dress you sketched while daydreaming about this very moment—"

Clarke was certain that she had never shown the young man the drawing of her wearing a traditional 21st-century dress for their wedding, standing in front of a Bellamy dressed in a fancy suit and bow tie. It was one of the secrets she kept under lock and key with her feelings for him. 

"How did you...?" she asked.

"I know you, Clarke. I understand you the way I've never understood anyone before. I've been at war both against you and beside you...", he said with a slight smile. "Now I want to know peace with you. I want to take you on dates, like in that old movie Jasper and Monty forced us to watch. I want to take walks and picnics and kiss you under the starry sky and rename the constellations with you. I want to make you laugh— god, I love your laugh— I want to know you, the real you... I want to know every little part of you, every tiny detail you find silly and foolish to share. And most of all, I want you to choose me, because you feel the same way, not to escape some deadly threat. I don't want to marry Wanheda. I want to marry Clarke Griffin."

A heavy silence reigned over the assembly following his declaration. Clarke couldn't take her gaze off Bellamy, unable to tear her blue eyes from the brown of his own. He now seemed nervous, the great warrior, beneath his war paint and the thick furs that covered his ceremonial armor. A living paradox. The emotion in his dark eyes reflected what Clarke was feeling at this moment and which was stuck in her throat. The young man waited a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity, before slowly swallowing, and then asking, not as confident as he had been a minute earlier in front of Clarke's silence:

"So, I'd like us to give it a try, you and I. If you want to. Together."

The crowd was vibrating with anticipation, so much that everyone heard it when the young woman finally found her voice back and managed to whisper:

"Yes- Yes, I do."

Clamors rang out all around them, but Clarke couldn't concentrate enough to determine whether they were outbursts of anger or joy, although she leaned towards joy. Bellamy's smile had become dazzling with her reply, and Clarke soon realized its ambiguity. Immediately, and although only her companion and Gaia could hear them now, she corrected herself by addressing the young woman and explaining in a rush:

"I mean yes, I want to try..." then turning to Bellamy: "And I love you too, of course..." and again to Gaia: "But it wasn't an "I do" to get married—"

"Don't worry, Clarke," immediately reassured the officiant with a kind smile. "I got it ".

At these words, Clarke let out a relieved sigh and turned to Bellamy, whose smile was still glowing in the late afternoon. The sun's rays were shining on the golden leaves of the trees around them, giving her companion's black eyes an autumn glow. Weary of getting burned by the flames that lit up his soft gaze, she asked, tentatively:

"What now?"

It was Gaia who answered:

"Now, Bellamy Blake kom Trikru, you may kiss the non-bride."

And that's exactly what he did, closing the short distance between them and pulling her against him by tugging on the hands he was still holding. His warm lips touched hers, soft and light, a question that Clarke immediately answered by putting her arms around his neck and pressing her mouth against Bellamy's, who then came to enfold her in the strong embrace of his arms and smiled in their kiss.

Over the applause and the whistles of joy, she distinctly heard Jasper exclaim:

"We did it! Best non-marriage ever!" 

Just before the familiar clap of the distant handshake that he shared with Monty.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked this one! Kudos & comments are like two funkos kissing on a blurry screen, they bring me JOY, so let me know what you thought!


End file.
